Sandwich eatery to have alcohol hearing

Wednesday

Sep 25, 2013 at 2:00 AM

China Palace to answer allegation of serving a drunken customer who then hit an officer with her car.

GEORGE BRENNAN

Because of incorrect information provided to the Times, the original version of this story about alleged liquor violations had an outdated name for the Sandwich store at 290 Cotuit Road now called Sandwich Food Mart.

SANDWICH — A woman who allegedly had too much to drink at the China Palace Restaurant got behind the wheel, pinned a state trooper between her car and a guardrail and later crashed into another guardrail, according to court records.

On Thursday, the owner of China Palace faces a disciplinary hearing before the Board of Selectmen alleging that his restaurant overserved her on Aug. 2. It would be the third violation for the Cotuit Road restaurant, according to town records. That includes three separate incidents that were combined into one during a 2009 hearing, resulting in a two-day suspension.

In August 2012, China Palace served another two-day suspension for its second offense. This time, the selectmen could suspend the restaurant's license for up to a week if they find the restaurant was at fault for serving the woman, according to a copy of the board's guidelines.

Owner Joseph Chow Wai Leung declined to comment.

Also on Thursday, Danyelle Goulette, 23, of Kingston, the woman accused of leaving China Palace drunk, is scheduled for a pretrial hearing in Plymouth District Court, where she faces charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, operating under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury, failure to stop for a police officer and a marked lanes violation.

Four hours after being treated at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth for injuries suffered in the crash, Goulette allegedly registered 0.16 on a Breathalyzer test, twice the legal limit, records show.

Trooper Matthew Croteau responded to a report of a crash on Route 3 northbound at mile marker 7 just after midnight, records show. Croteau approached the Honda and Goulette appeared to be sleeping and unresponsive, the report states. Croteau knocked on the window and told Goulette to turn off the car. "Instead she put the vehicle in gear and sped off," injuring the trooper, according to the report. She was later apprehended after crashing her car a second time.

Croteau was treated for a leg injury at Jordan Hospital and released, police said.

Goulette told police she had been working at the Ridge Club in Sandwich, where she had wine, and then went to a tiki bar after work, according to the police report.

Tiki Hawaii is the former name of China Palace.

Although there was a wine-tasting dinner at the Ridge Club that night, officials there told police that members of the wait staff are allowed only a sip so they can suggest certain wines to patrons, the report says. "The amount of alcohol consumed is closely monitored," the report states.

Sandwich police said they were told that Goulette had a mai tai and a vodka tonic in a 30-minute span at China Palace.

The restaurant is being accused of serving an already intoxicated person and obstructing a liquor inspector by failing to turn over Goulette's receipt, according to the police report.

Two stores in Sandwich, Sandwich Food Mart and Meetinghouse Package Store both on Cotuit Road, are also facing disciplinary hearings Thursday night, both for allegedly selling alcohol to minors.